It is 6.30pm. Stingray picks up Mango from Tai Po…hoping to get to the run before the masses of hashers from across Hong Kong converge on the pagoda at Brides Pool..cos everyone has had the day off. At 7.20pm G-spot shows up, followed by Dingaling the hare and co-hare Overdue. At 7.40pm Tangerine Dream Ginger Moon, BJ, Electrolux and One Eyed Jack (fresh from the T8 hash earlier) show up.

Move along, nothing to see here

But where is Salesman…let us wait for Salesman…we must wait for Salesman…the homemade burgers, they make him come…no, bugger it, let’s start. Dingaling, being the well prepared dude that he is, had everything sorted with shredded paper, four A4 size paper checks plus GPS info stating a 250-metre ascent plus a 5.8km trail.

So off we went (without Salesman) straight up the steps opposite the pagoda. Halfway up Ginger Moon offered to collect some wild berries for me as an energy booster, but I politely declined. After 15 minutes we get to the first check with G-Spot disappearing left into bush but Tangerine Dream and One Eyed Jack managing to solve the first check quickly, with trail heading further upwards along some very new looking concrete steps. Just off the top, the second check had us going right and down a little, keeping on the proper walking trail but it now became a game of dodge the froggy. The third check took us right and up a little before a nice long run along the contour paths, again littered with frogs. At the final check we went right, bumping into Golden Balls, who magically appeared…pissed as a fart having also done the T8 hash and then spent the afternoon in the King’s Belly with Farty, LSG and Eunuch (who didn’t make it).

As we all arrived back the rain came down but this didn’t prevent Ginger Moon from pulling out his remote control tank and BJ and Electrolux pulling out their fold-up deck chairs. Chat at the bucket centered around Salesman’s recent exploits in Istanbul and the pending cycling tour. Golden Jelly arrived just before the circle, which was led by Salesman. Overdue prepared some fantastic homemade burgers complete with salad and condiments. After a couple more drinks we headed home to bed. Brilliant effort by Dingaling and Overdue on a damp-squibby typhoon day.